Lyman
Lyman was a friend of Jon's, who lived with him for a while and was the original owner of Odie. Lyman was one of the main characters in the comic strip along with Garfield, Jon, and Odie. The comic strip usually had four main characters, but that number was reduced to three when Lyman was cut out of the strip by Jim Davis. He first appeared on August 7, 1978. He was only actively present for a few months after his debut appearance. Starting from 1981, he was usually absent; for instance, he did not appear in any strips between December 25, 1981, and June 27, 1982. He had largely disappeared from the comic by April 24, 1983, his last regular appearance, and his disappearance was not fully elaborated upon at the time. Lyman has made two cameo appearances in the comic since then. First, in the strip on Garfield's 10th birthday, June 19, 1988, where he appears in the title panel seated between Jon's father and Liz; he also appears in a flashback panel within the strip. The next was on April 2, 2013, in a picture on the newspaper Jon was reading. According to Davis, Lyman's original purpose was to be someone who Jon could actually talk to and express other ideas — a role gradually taken over by Garfield, himself. Once Lyman was no longer needed for that purpose, he was removed without explanation. Jim Davis has jokingly given explanations about Lyman's sudden disappearance and long absence from the strip; examples include Lyman joining the Peace Corps and never being heard from again and "Don't look in Jon's basement." In the web game "Scary Scavenger Hunt," he is shown chained onto the wall in the basement of a haunted mansion. In "Scary Scavenger Hunt 2," his head is found inside the kitchen oven. Also, on the official Garfield website, he was shown working behind the counter in a former edition of the "Book Nook" section. In Long Lost Lyman, it´s revealed that he has become a wild life photographer. He had searched for a mythological creature and disappeared. When Jon, Garfield and Odie were looking for him, they had found him dressed as that creature. Trivia * Lyman has appeared 69 times in comics, the 24th most. * Lyman’s last regular appearance was in 1983. * Lyman grew up with four cats, all named Cat. * In The Garfield Show, instead of having dotted eyes, he has regular eyes like Garfield and most other characters (likewise with Mom Arbuckle). Appearances The Garfield Show *Long Lost Lyman Gallery ImagesCA1ZGEY4.jpg|Lyman On "The Garfield Show" LymanTGS.png Lyman 1978.gif|Lyman's first appearance (August 07, 1978) 1978-08-08.jpg|August 08, 1978 1978-08-10.jpg|August 10, 1978 1978-08-14.jpg|August 14, 1978 1978-08-15.jpg|August 15, 1978 1978-08-16.jpg|August 16, 1978 1978-08-19.jpg|August 19, 1978 1978-08-23.jpg|August 23, 1978 1978-09-09.jpg|September 9, 1978 1978-09-10.jpg|September 10, 1978 1978-09-16.jpg|September 16, 1978 1978-09-22.jpg|September 22, 1978 1978-09-24.jpg|September 24, 1978 1978-10-03.jpg|October 3, 1978 1978-10-20.jpg|October 20, 1978 1978-11-03.jpg|November 3, 1978 1978-11-12.jpg|November 12, 1978 1978-12-02.jpg|December 2, 1978 1978-12-04.jpg|December 4, 1978 1978-12-10.jpg|December 10, 1978 1978-12-15.jpg|December 15, 1978 1978-12-20.jpg|December 20, 1978 1978-12-24.jpg|December 24, 1978 (mentioned) 1978-12-31.jpg|December 31, 1978 1979-01-10.jpg|January 10, 1979 February 04, 1979.gif|February 04, 1979 February 08, 1979.gif|February 08, 1979 February 09, 1979.gif|February 09, 1979 March 08, 1979.gif|March 08, 1979 March 22, 1979.gif|March 22, 1979 April 01, 1979.gif|April 01, 1979 April 11, 1979.gif|April 11, 1979 April 14, 1979.gif|April 14, 1979 April 20, 1979.gif|April 20, 1979 May 07, 1979.gif|May 07, 1979 (mentioned) May 20, 1979.gif|May 20, 1979 May 21, 1979.gif|May 21, 1979 June 06, 1979.gif|June 06, 1979 June 10, 1979.gif|June 10, 1979 (in Garfield's dream) August 05, 1979.gif|August 05, 1979 Arghhh.jpg|October 21, 1979 Lyman diner.jpg|October 25, 1979 image.jpg|February 4, 1980 Lyman cat got your tongue .jpg|May 17, 1980 Lyman,odie.jpg|May 29, 1980 Lyman mousetraps.jpg|August 08, 1980 Lyman .jpg|December 06, 1980 Lyman Christmas ��.jpg|December 25, 1981 Lyman cameo.jpg|June 27, 1982 Lyman Jon Garfield .jpg|April 24, 1983 0570a980577701301625001dd8b71c47.gif|Lyman as seen on April 2, 2013 on a newspaper Lyman tv.gif|August 24, 1980 External Links Lyman's mysterious disappearance from the strip is discussed at Neatorama.com. References Category:Human Category:Male Characters Category:Comic Strip Category:The Garfield Show Category:Protagonists Category:The Garfield Show Characters